Superhuman
by Strains of Violins
Summary: After high school graduation, Bella Swan, a kind-hearted klutz of a girl, moves to New York City to attend NYU on full scholarship. Though she focuses mainly on her studies, she works at the local library to pay her bills and rent. But CONT. IN PROFILE
1. The Bobst Diving Team

**Chapter One - The Bobst Diving Team**

"Ma'am? Ma'am?" An unfamiliar voice accompanied the gentle pressure on my shoulder.

I opened my eyes to see one of the flight attendants, her hand on my shoulder, standing over me with a warm smile on her face. She removed her hand when I opened my eyes.

"We've landed ma'am." She said.

A blush began to creep across my features. I looked to my right to see the elderly woman that had been sitting beside me. I felt relieved when I saw that she was looking out the window and not glaring at me for falling asleep and keeping her from exiting the plane. The blood slowly drained from my face.

I unbuckled my seatbelt and got to my feet. My legs were stiff from having been seated for so long. My knees nearly gave in but, having been dealing with my magnetic attraction to accidents and catastrophes of all shapes and sizes, I was quick to catch myself on my armrest.

While I stood there, waiting for others around me to collect their luggage from the overhead compartments, I bent my knees several times to get the blood flowing through my legs again. When I realized how stupid I must have looked, bouncing up and down in place, the blush that had faded began to return.

I removed one hand from the armrest and began to bite my nails. It had been a horrible habit that I had had most of my life. My mom had tried everything to get me to stop from putting gloves on me as a baby to rubbing hot sauce into my cuticles and fingertips as a kid. When I got a little older, she tried to take me for manicures every other month. She quickly learned that I wasn't interested and gave up her mission to break my habit.

When I thought about my mom I felt an ache in my chest. I removed my fingers from my mouth and held it over the bulge in my pants pocket where my cell phone was. I had promised to call both my parents when the plane landed. I decided to wait until I had gotten to the apartment. The last thing I needed to do was trip over myself while juggling my luggage and a cell phone.

The plane had started to clear out. I reached up to the compartment and tried the latch. When it wouldn't open, I removed my other hand from the armrest and used both to try the latch. It was stuck.

"Ma'am-"

Before the flight attendant could help me, I had used all my strength and the compartment flew open and all of the bags that had been in it came tumbling out. A backpack hit me in the head and I stumbled back into a seat.

"Are you alright ma'am?" The flight attendant that had woken me rushed to help me stand up straight, leaving the other people that were still on the plane, multiple suitcases and bags blocking their escape, looking annoyed behind her.

"I'm so sorry." I apologized quickly, my face burning. I got down on my knees and started collecting pieces of luggage. The flight attendant helped me.

"It's quite alright ma'am. The latches on these compartments stick all the time." She assured me with another sweet smile.

Once we had put all of the luggage into open seat for the owners to collect, I grabbed my backpack and made my way towards the exit. I moved quickly, but also cautiously so as not to cause another scene.

I managed to make it to the gate without tripping or running into anyone. When I got there, I couldn't help but look around at all of the people that had been on the plane. There was a woman that embraced an older man, while a reunited couple kissed chastely before breaking apart and smiling at one another.

I swallowed the lump that was beginning to form in my throat and decided to go to the bathroom to freshen up somewhat while I waited for the bags to show up at baggage claim. I looked up at the signs and found my way to the bathroom easily. There was a short line that I had to wait in before I got my turn.

When I got into the bathroom, I went to the mirror and turned on the faucet. I ran my hands underneath the cold water and splashed it on my face and neck. As I reached over for a paper towel, I caught sight of myself in the mirror and frowned.

Before I had left, my mom had insisted that I do something different with my appearance. She suggested a new hair color, or a new hairstyle. I decided to let her have her last laugh before I went off to college, and had gotten layers to frame my face. I had to admit that it looked nice - when it was done. But I hadn't taken the time to style my hair, and I had spent a little over nine hours on a plane. I looked like a mess.

At baggage claim, I saw that the bags were already circulating on the conveyor belt. I waited, looking for my suitcase. I had packed enough clothes to last me until Charlie brought the moving truck with all my things from Forks in about two to four days. I had to admit that I was looking forward to seeing him already.

I spotted my yellow suitcase and managed to squeeze through the crowd to get to it. I grabbed it up off the conveyor belt, stumbling slightly as I turned to weave my way through the crowd again.

My new roommate, Sylvia, was going to be picking me up from the airport. During orientation at NYU, she and I had been in the same group. We had gotten to talking and it turned out that she was looking for someone to share her apartment with and I was looking for an apartment to share with someone.

It was strange that she and I had clicked. We weren't very much alike at all. She was fiery in every sense of the word. Her flaming red hair matched her personality. She was wild and spontaneous, but also very sweet. She had offered on the very same day as orientation to not only share her apartment with me, but to pick me up from the airport when I returned.

At first I had been wary to accept her offer. But it was as if she had seen the hesitation on my face because she had smiled and said, "Don't worry. I never bring my business home with me if you know what I mean. I leave the party at the door. I won't get in the way of your studying."

After she had said that I had gratefully agreed, to which she responded, "But that doesn't mean we can't have _any_ fun."

Outside it was raining and I couldn't help but think of Forks. I would have bet my life that it was raining there too. When I closed my eyes, I could almost hear the sound of the rain hitting my windows while I laid in my little bed.

"Swan!"

I opened my eyes to see Sylvia stepping out of a taxi. Her red, wavy hair bounced around her face as she bounded towards me. She enveloped me in a hug, but pulled away so quickly that I hadn't had time to return her embrace.

"Come on, lesson number one - taxi drivers are _not_ patient people." She flashed a smile at me before taking the suitcase from my hand.

Sylvia went to the open car door and asked the driver to pop the trunk. She went to the rear of the car and put my suitcase into the trunk. She slammed it shut and waited for me to climb into the taxi before sliding in next to me and shutting the door.

"Back to where we started from chief." She told the driver. She turned to me and gave me another hug, this time it was longer. "How was your flight?"

"Long." I leaned back against the seat when she released me.

"I wouldn't be able to stand sitting still for that long. God knows how I get through my classes without getting up and wandering around." She shook her head before glancing back at me to smile. "Well don't worry, once we get back to the apartment, you can take a nice, hot shower and get some sleep."

"That sounds like the most amazing thing in the world." I sighed.

"Oh Bella, we'll have a lot of lessons to cover while you're here." She leaned back against the seat too. "But only on the weekends when you aren't busy studying."

"Sylvia I hope I'm not…raining on your parade or anything."

"Of course not. You're the smart and sensible one. I _should_ be taking lessons from _you._ Not the other way around." Sylvia laughed. "I just can't help myself. I was raised on a farm. My relatives all made their own moonshine and passed it around during our weekly bonfires."

"My dad is the police chief in Forks. If any of that went on, I wasn't a part of it." I smiled and rubbed a hand down my face.

"You'll have to come out with me some time when you're free. Speaking of which, did you ever hear back from Bobst?"

"The library? Yeah. Suzanne wants me to come in for one last interview, but she told me that I pretty much had the job."

"Well that's good. I bet that won't even be like work for you." Sylvia shook her head with a playful smile. "I can't even imagine how many of those boxes will be filled with books."

"I think I have more books than clothing to be perfectly honest." I admitted sheepishly.

"You're something Swan."

NYU was located on 50 W 4th Street. The apartment complex was about five minutes away from there. And the library that I was most likely going to be working at, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, was an even shorter distance from the apartment. Everything seemed very convenient and easy.

I tried to pay the cab fare, but Sylvia wouldn't hear it. I talked her into letting me cover half of it. Then she led the way up to Apartment 4F. I had only been inside it once before.

"Home sweet home." Sylvia sighed as she held the door open for me. As soon as I had passed through the doorway, she closed the door behind her and locked it up. "That's probably more of an important lesson than the one you already learned to day - always lock the door."

I nodded.

"Well, you can't really get lost so I'll leave you to get settled. If you need anything at all, I'll be in my room. I promised my mom I'd call her and it's already almost ten."

"Oh shoot! I have to call my mom too." I dragged my suitcase to my room and shut the door behind me.

Until Charlie came with my bed and other pieces of furniture, Sylvia had pulled out an air mattress and covered it in all sorts of sheets, blankets, and pillows. I flopped down onto them after discarding my backpack and suitcase.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed my mom's number.

"Oh Bella honey I was starting to worry when you didn't call. Is everything okay? Did you find Sylvia at the airport?" My mom's questions and concerns all came flooding out of her the second she picked up the phone on the first ring.

"Mom calm down. Everything is fine. I waited until Sylvia and I got back to the apartment to call." Hearing her voice made me miss her even more. "Did anything interesting happen to you today?"

"Not really honey. I stuck around the hotel today."

"Did you remember that your flight leaves at eight tomorrow morning?"

"Yes I did. I have my alarm set and Charlie offered to take me to the airport."

"And do you have your ticket?"

"Yes I…oh shoot hang on…"

I rolled my eyes but laughed quietly as I listened to my mom fumbling around and muttering to herself.

"Check your coat pocket." I suggested.

"I just had it out and…oh! Bella you know me all too well. What am I going to do without you?"

There was a deeper meaning to her words. I could feel the tears coming before she had the chance to say another word. I knew that if she cried, I was going to cry.

"Mom don't get worked up again. You'll see me again before you know it. Thanksgiving isn't as far away as it seems." I said comfortingly.

"I know honey."

"Well I promised Charlie that I would call him too. I'll be sure to give you a call soon, and I'll try to email you whenever I can."

"Just take care of yourself honey. Don't hesitate to pick up the phone if you need money or-"

"I know mom. I love you."

"I love you too Bella."

After I hung up I tossed my phone into the abyss of blankets and pillows. I had to give myself a few minutes before I called Charlie. I knew it would be easier to talk to him knowing that I'd be seeing him in a few days, but if he heard me sounding the slightest bit sad, it would upset him.

I decided to get up and take a quick shower. I fished into my suitcase for my shampoo and toothbrush. I then went to Sylvia's door and knocked.

"Sylvia? Is it okay if I use your toothpaste and towels until my dad brings my stuff?" I asked from the door.

"Bella don't be ridiculous. Of course you can." Sylvia said loud enough for me to hear. I heard her murmuring and knew that she was talking to her mom.

I went into the bathroom and turned on the hot water. I took my time undressing myself and brushing my teeth. When I knew the shower would be hot enough, I got in and stepped into the water. The gentle pressure of the warm water made me feel even more sleepy. I could feel my eyelids becoming heavier and heavier.

I managed to wash and rinse my hair in my drowsy state. I was forced to turn the water off and get out before I fell asleep standing up and ended up breaking my back from falling over. It sounded farfetched, but then again, knowing my history with accidents, it wasn't unlikely.

I used one of Sylvia's towels to dry myself off before wringing out my hair. I wrapped it around myself to go back into my room.

I fished out my usual pajamas, a ratty T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, and pulled both. The familiarity of my pajamas and the soothing shower were slowly lulling me into sleep as I stumbled to the light switch.

I was able to fall onto the air mattress and cover myself with one of the many blankets before my exhaustion took over.

* * *

The next morning my first thought was that I had forgotten to call Charlie before I had fallen asleep. I quickly felt around in the blankets for my cell phone and felt slightly relieved when I saw that he hadn't tried to call me. I still felt guilty for having not called him, so I quickly pulled up his work cell and clicked send.

I wasn't surprised when Charlie didn't pick up. He was probably on the road headed for New York City and he never answered his phone while he was driving.

When I hung up I saw that it was close to nine. I had to be at the Bobst Library in an hour for my final interview. I got up and headed into the bathroom with my curling iron and the outfit that I had selected for that day.

The first thing I did was take out my contacts and throw them away. I had other packages of them in my suitcase.

After brushing my teeth, I went about the difficult task of brushing through all of my long hair. It was tangled and messy after having slept on it wet. I managed to pull through all of it by the time my curling iron had heated up.

It was odd putting so much effort into getting ready. I had worked at Newton Outfitters, my friend Mike's dad's store, part-time during my senior year back in Forks. I had always donned jeans and T-shirts to work, even to my interview. And outside of work I had been just as casual.

But for the first two interviews for the position at Bobst Library, I had worn much nicer clothes that I hadn't worn since picture day at Forks High School. And, along with my haircut, my mom had taken me out shopping for several new outfits that I would be able to wear to my last interview and, hopefully, on the job.

I curled my hair, mostly just my layers, and then unplugged and put away my curling iron into one of the empty drawers. After my hair was done, I stripped out of my pajamas and stepped into a pair of black dress pants. Over those I wore a long sleeved, white button up shirt. I rolled the sleeves to my elbows and smoothed out the few wrinkles I saw.

I decided to ditch my contacts for the day since I had forgotten to take them out the night before, and went into my room to fish my glasses case out of my backpack. I cleaned off the lenses quickly before sliding the glasses onto my face.

After I put on my black flats and grabbed my cell phone, I quietly moved through the apartment to the kitchen/dining area. I looked in the fridge and saw that I would have to go grocery shopping. The fridge was mostly empty, but the freezer was crammed full of frozen pizzas and TV dinners.

I decided to skip breakfast and instead wrote a message on the notepad that was magnetized to the freezer. I explained that I had gone to my interview and was then going to the nearest grocery store.

I made it to the library in barely two minutes. When I reached it, I stopped to look. It was a huge and square shaped with many slits of windows in rectangular patterns running up and down the burnt red building. None of the buildings back in Forks, or even in Port Angeles, were that big. I was definitely out of my element after having spent the past two years in Washington.

After a moment I went up to the doors and stepped inside. The inside architecture was even more different than the outside. There were six levels of the library, with multiple slanting staircases leading from level to level. Any way you turned you were met with walls and rows of books. That was the only comforting part.

I approached the front desk, not knowing where else to go. My first two interviews had taken place behind the front desk. Suzanne was nowhere in sight.

"Bella! Is that you down there?!"

I looked all around, searching for her. I finally saw her coming down one of the staircases carrying a stack of books.

"Hi Suzanne. I know I'm early-"

"You'll have to speak up dear! Or you could join me!" She glided through the different rows, replacing books to shelves and moving others around.

I climbed the stairs to the level that she was on.

"I said that I know I'm early but-"

"Oh I don't mind. I can understand why you'd be early. This place is a book lover's paradise." Suzanne was already moving to another row.

"It sure is." I agreed, following quickly after her but also looking around at all of the different books. I had never seen so many in one place before.

"Yes. Bella, do you think that you could tell me some of the rules I explained to you during your last interview?"

"Sure. Only NYU faculty, students, and full-time staff with an NYU ID can be allowed into the library-"

"Speaking of which." Suzanne muttered, going to the plastic barrier that ran along each of the different levels. "Barney! Hey Barney!"

"What?!"

Barney was the security guard at the library. He was in charge of checking IDs and making sure that the people in the library were there to read or to study and not to sit around and socialize.

He appeared suddenly on the lowest level.

"How is it that Bella was able to make it into the building without having her ID checked?!" Suzanne motioned to me.

"I know who she is!" Barney shouted in an aggravated tone. He then turned more towards me and waved. "Hey there Bella!"

"Hi Barney!" I called back, waving back quickly.

"That old man has been here too long." Suzanne grumbled. She returned to gliding through aisles and making sure that all of the books were in their proper places. "Go on Bella."

"Um…in order to check out a book you have to have both your picture ID and your library card. If you're a student checking out a book, you can only take them out if you're taking classes that semester."

"Mhmm. Mhmm." Suzanne nodded as she put one of the books in her arms on a shelf. "Go on."

"Non-degree students can only have twenty five books out at a time."

"And how many can someone who is _not_ a non-degree student have?"

"Two hundred."

I had remembered thinking that I couldn't imagine someone walking out of here with two hundred books in their arms. I knew that those who had close to that many books out had probably accumulated over time, but it was still a funny image.

"Excellent." Suzanne turned with a smile on her face. She didn't have anymore books in hand. "I think that I'm ready to say this: congratulations, you're hired."

"Oh thank you so much." I smiled and breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.

"Can you start tomorrow?"

"Of course." I nodded, still smiling.

"Great. Let's go downstairs so I can print out your work schedule."

Suzanne led the way down to the lowest level. As we did, I looked around at all of the plastic barriers. I hadn't really noticed them since it had been the first time being on any of the upper levels.

"Suzanne, what are the plastic barriers for?"

"Oh." She stopped on the stairs. She slowly turned in a circle, looking around the library with a suddenly morose look on her face. "We had to put those up after…after two students jumped from the highest level."

"Oh my god."

"Yes. Both incidents happened in 2003. After the second suicide occurred, we put up plastic paneling to prevent it from happening again." Suzanne resumed climbing down the stairs. "For awhile, the students around here used to call this library The Bobst Diving Team."

"That's terrible." I said, following Suzanne to the front desk.

"I demanded that the dean do something about it. He threatened the student population with suspension if he heard them using that morbid nickname. It stopped being thrown around quite quickly."

"I would imagine so."

I watched while Suzanne worked the computer. She had guided me through the different programs on my second interview. I felt confident that I would be able to perform my job well. I had paid close attention to the rules and the way that the library operated.

"Alright, here's your schedule. I have you working most days, and the occasional weekend. But don't worry, you won't be working until closing everyday that you work here." Suzanne explained as she handed me the piece of paper.

"Thank you." I said, quickly glancing at my schedule.

"Well if that's everything-"

"Actually…I was wondering if you could tell me where the nearest grocery store is."

"Oh sure. If I were you I would go to Morton Williams Supermarket. They have reasonable prices and it's not even five minutes from here."

"That's perfect. Thanks again."

* * *

I shopped carefully because I could only carry so much from the store to the apartment. I carried my two brown bags up to the apartment and juggled them as I reached into my pants pocket for my key.

"Hey Bella."

Sylvia was sitting on the couch when I opened the door. When she saw me carrying groceries she jumped up and held the door.

"Thanks." I walked past her and set the bags on the countertop.

"I'm sorry about all the frozen food. I'm not a very good cook and it's easier to microwave something." Sylvia pulled out one of the two chairs at the table and sat down while I started to unload groceries.

"It's fine Sylvia." I told her as I put a carton of eggs into the fridge. "I can cook for us. When I lived with Charlie I did all of the cooking."

"So don't keep me waiting. Did you get the job?"

"Yeah. I start tomorrow." I held out my schedule to her before opening one of the drawers and tossing in a head of lettuce and a bag of tomatoes.

"That's awesome Bella." Sylvia looked over my schedule and then smiled up at me.

"Well I'll be able to pay my half of the rent and utilities."

"You'll be a like a duck in water I'm sure." Sylvia set my schedule on the countertop. "Well listen, I was thinking of going out tonight. Do you want to come?"

"Hmm…not tonight Sylvia. I'm still getting adjusted to the time change and I want to be up and ready for my first day. But you go on ahead and have a good time."

"Are you sure? If you'd rather I stay here we could watch a movie or something."

"Go out. Have a good time." I insisted with a smile. "I'll even make us dinner before you leave."

"We're going to get along just fine Swan." Sylvia said with a smile.

After I put all of the groceries away, I tossed the empty bags and headed to my room. I unpacked my nice clothes and started putting them on hangers when my phone started to ring. The screen displayed Charlie's name.

"Hey dad." I said, balancing the phone between my neck and shoulder as I hung things up in the closet.

"Hey Bells. I'm sorry I missed your call. I just stopped to get gas."

"That's okay. I figured you were driving and would give me a call at a rest stop or something. So how's the drive?"

"I haven't had any trouble so far. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine. I just got back from my interview and the grocery store."

"Oh! How'd your interview go?"

"Great. I start tomorrow." I closed the closet after all of my nicer outfits were on hangers. I grabbed all of my toiletries and went into the bathroom to put them away.

"Well that's great honey. It sounds like things are going okay."

"They are."

"Well I have to get going if I'm going to make good time. I'll see you in a few days Bells. Stay safe. I love you."

"I love you too dad. Bye."


	2. He's Not A Man, He's A God

**Chapter Two - He's Not A Man…He's A God**

Author's Note: Hey so I left my computer for an hour or two and came back and had 12 alerts already. That's great! Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed. By the way, **Sunny Book Lover** and **idotroad**, I tried to send you both messages but you disabled the ability to have private messages sent to you.

I also wanted to say that I HATE HATE HATE Jacob Black.

&

I had my alarm set for six thirty so that I would have enough time to shower, dry and do something with my hair, and pick out an outfit to wear by eight.

Sylvia worked at Campus Eatery, which was just as close to the apartment as the library was. But she didn't start work until September 8th, the same day that classes started. It was mid August. The only reason that the library stayed open was for students that took summer classes.

I took my time in the shower shaving my legs and washing my hair. After my shower I dried my hair thoroughly while the curling iron heated up. I tried to use the blow dryer quickly so I wouldn't wake Sylvia. I brushed through my long hair while I dried it to speed up the process.

After my hair was dry and I had curled it the same as the day before, I fished through my plastic case for a clip. I found a charcoal gray one shaped like an oval and used it to clip the front sections of my hair back.

I put in my contacts before I brushed my teeth. I had learned the hard way once that if you tried to do it the other way, there was a good chance you would get toothpaste in your eye. And that wasn't pleasant.

I had narrowed it down to two outfits the night before. I studied both of them as they hung in the closet. The weatherman had said that it would be in the mid seventies so I had picked out two skirts.

After a few moments of debating, I took the navy blue one off the hanger and stepped into it. It ended at the knee, giving my legs enough air but without making me uncomfortable. All the skirts I owned were long. The shortest ones I owned hit the knee.

I paired my skirt with a white tank top, which I wore with a shrug practically the same color as my hair clip.

After I was dressed I went to the bathroom mirror and looked myself over. I smoothed out my skirt a few times before I felt satisfied and confident with my appearance.

I took a yogurt out of the fridge and ate it while I wrote a note for Sylvia on the notepad. For my first day, Suzanne only had me working a half day. I would be getting home at three. I suggested that she take me to see some nearby sights.

I finished my yogurt and was out the door ten minutes to eight.

It wasn't a surprise to see that Barney and Suzanne were the only people at the library when I arrived. Barney waved me away when I reached into my purse for my wallet to show him my ID.

"Bella I'm not that old that I can't remember you." He joked.

"I know. I just didn't want to walk by you without at least making the gesture." I returned his smile and went straight to the front desk. "What can I do for you this morning?"

"Good morning Bella. Why don't you leave your purse with me and go to the lounge area? There's coffee and a box of donuts if you're interested."

"No thanks. I don't drink coffee." I said, but I did hand her my purse to keep behind the front desk. "Do you need any books that need re-shelving?"

"Actually I do. There's a rack right over there," she turned and pointed to a rack of books by the door to the lounge, "where people put the books that they used in the lounge but aren't checking out. Some of the students taking summer classes had a study session last night and their books are up there."

I went to the rack and saw the huge stacks and was trying to figure out how to lug all of them around without making trips when I heard a screeching sound. I turned to see Barney rolling a cart towards me.

"Why don't you use this? It'll be easier?" He smiled.

"Thanks." I returned his smile for the second time that day and started loading up the cart with all of the books. Most of them were about marketing and business.

I rolled the cart to the staircase and, by studying the author's name, was able to determine which books belonged on which level. I took the ones that belonged on the second level and heaved them up there.

I spent most of my time re-shelving books. After I had replaced all of the ones from the rack, I re-shelved the ones that people had checked in. I wasn't surprised by how tiring it was to go from level to level with heavy books. I had to admit that the little kid inside of me enjoyed using the ladder that rolled along the shelf.

When it was around noon, Suzanne insisted that I take a break. I rolled the cart, which was half empty, to the front desk and sat with her behind it.

"So Bella, you told me about your school background and about the job you had back in Forks, but we never got into anything personal. What's your family like?"

Suzanne offered me one of the many water bottles in the cooler behind the desk. I took one and drank nearly half of it on my first drink.

"Well, my parents got divorced when I was a baby. My mom and I lived in California for most of my life, but later we moved to Phoenix. When my mom remarried, I went to go live with my dad in Forks."

"Didn't you like the man your mom married?" Suzanne asked, slightly concerned.

"Phil was okay. I mean, I didn't look at him as a father figure or anything, but he was always kind to me and made my mom happy. But Phil plays minor league baseball and so he travels a lot. I knew it made my mom unhappy to be away from him for such long periods of time, so I decided to live with my dad so that she and Phil could travel together."

"You're a very a sweet kid Bella." Suzanne replied with a smile. "Most kids your age wouldn't have been able to be so self-sacrificing."

"It wasn't terrible with Charlie. He didn't get in my hair and I stayed out of his way. We actually have a pretty good relationship. I think it's because we're a lot alike."

"Didn't you say he was bringing your things here?"

"Yeah. He'll be here in a couple of days."

"You should bring him by one day when I'm working with you. I'd love to meet him, and I'm sure he'd like to see where you work."

"That's actually a good idea. I think I will." I hadn't thought about it, but I knew it would make Charlie happy to be included in my life here.

"So…did you ever date anyone in Forks?" Suzanne's lips pulled into an evil grin, and her eyes shined from behind her tortoiseshell glasses.

"No." I answered quickly, a blush fanning across my face.

"Spill it Bella." She said with a laugh.

"Well…I never dated anyone. But…well…it's…_complicated._"

"You've worked hard today. You can take a longer break to explain." Suzanne moved her swivel chair closer to me. "There's something lurking behind that blush of yours."

"Whenever I visited my dad as a kid, he would have his best friend Billy come over to the house. Billy's dad was the last leader of the Quileute Indians. He and his family live on the reservation in La Push.

But anyways, whenever Billy came over to the house, he would bring his two kids with him and we would all play together. He has two twin daughter, Rachel and Rebecca, and a son, Jacob.

When I moved to Forks, Jacob and I started hanging out a lot. I would go to the reservation for fires on the beach and to help Jacob with his cars. Mostly I would just sit and watch, but I occasionally handed him tools…which qualifies as help." I laughed.

"So you and Jacob huh?"

"Well, I always guessed that Jacob had a crush on me. But I had been friends with him as a kid and he was two years younger."

"That doesn't answer my question. And it doesn't explain why you blushed." Suzanne pointed out quickly, practically bouncing in her seat to hear the story.

"I was feeling really rebellious one year and…I found these two broken motorcycles for sale on someone's front lawn. I took them to Jacob and asked for his help to fix them. And we starting spending a lot of time together."

"Yeah and…?"

"We kissed a few times, but…nothing ever came out of it. If you asked me if I loved Jacob, I would say yes. But it isn't the right kind of love. It's the kind of love that would last forever, but it's the kind of love that two friends share. Does that make sense?"

"I suppose so."

"I told you it was complicated." I took another sip of water.

"Do you have a picture of this guy?" Suzanne asked, raising her eyebrows and another one of those evil grins spreading across her face.

"Mhmm. I have a few pictures that my mom gave me to keep in my wallet. I'm pretty sure he's in one of them."

I rummaged through my purse and located my wallet. I opened it and reached into the place where my money was. There were three pictures in there, already bent up and crinkled.

"This is one of me, my mom, and Phil. It was taken on their wedding day." I handed Suzanne the picture.

"Wow. Your mom is gorgeous." Suzanne said.

"I know. She was always getting drinks bought for her whenever she and I went out to eat. She thought it was funny but I thought it was annoying. It always interrupted our time together."

"You don't look so bad yourself Bella. You should wear this dress more often." Suzanne said, looking up at me with a smile.

"Yeah I'll come to work wearing an orange, floor length dress." I said sarcastically.

"I think more people would come into the library. Boys mostly."

"Sure." I handed her another picture. "That's Charlie and I at my high school graduation."

"Your dad is…_cute._" Suzanne said, a grin creeping across her face for the third time during our conversation. "Really cute. Make _sure _you bring him here when I'm working."

"Okay Suzanne." I snatched the two pictures she was holding. I handed her a third one. "That's me with all the guys in La Push. The one standing on my right is Jacob."

"Bella…wow." Suzanne studied the picture for a long time. "How could you have possibly only been friends with this guy?"

I had known she was going to react that way. I was well aware that Jacob Black was a good looking guy. Everything about him was a girl's dream come true: his towering stature at six foot seven, his flawless russet skin, and his kind, thoughtful personality. But even with all of those things, I had never felt that fire for him.

I had never felt that fire for anybody. Sometimes I questioned myself. I thought that since I had never been in love with anyone, maybe I wasn't aware of how you were supposed to feel. I thought that maybe what I felt for Jacob was indeed that kind of love. But something in my gut, and in my heart, told me otherwise.

"He was, is, a great friend." I took the picture from Suzanne when she handed it to me.

"Is he coming to visit?"

"I doubt it. I'll probably only see him when I visit Charlie."

"Well listen, I've got to run to a meeting at NYU. Do you think you can handle things her yourself for about an hour? Barney will be around." Suzanne stood and reached for her purse.

"Yeah I'll be alright. I've got to finish re-shelving." I stood up to, finishing off my water.

"Okay. Call my cell if there's an emergency. Otherwise, I'll see you when I get back."

I discarded my water bottle to the wastebasket behind the desk when I heard the doors open. Suzanne had already gone and so I wondered if it was a student or a faculty member.

That was the first time that I saw him.

As my eyes focused in on the man walking through the doors, I had to blink several times before I believed that I wasn't hallucinating. I had never in my life seen another living, breathing man look the way that this one did. I had seen men in paintings and in architecture that looked similar. I would have wondered if he had jumped off of a mural had I been able to think clearly.

The first thing I noticed was his unkempt hair. It was dark, but when the sun that had flittered through the windows hit it, sections of it appeared almost red. Had any other person's hair been as messy as his was, they would have looked dirty and lazy. But it was incredibly charming, even endearing, on him.

The first sensation I had when I saw him was the sudden itching in my fingertips. I realized it was because I wanted my hands in that perfect mane of hair.

Though it was fairly warm out, he was dressed in a gray, tweed coat. It was buttoned up all the way and secured around his waist. Underneath he wore a pair of jeans. It was such an ordinary outfit, but it was worn by the most unordinary person I had ever seen.

He looked like he belonged on a runway, but I was sure that any male model on the face of the earth couldn't hold a candle to him.

I couldn't tear my eyes away from him for the life of me. My mind was telling me to do so but my body wouldn't move. The only thing that seemed to reboot my system was when his eyes suddenly flickered to mine.

Embarrassed that he had seen me staring, I turned away. I could feel my face growing hotter by the second. I realized that I was gasping quietly, and then realized that I hadn't breathed the entire time I had been staring at him.

While I filled my lungs with air, I quickly grabbed the cart and moved swiftly to the staircase. Without thinking, I grabbed a stack of books and headed up to the second level. I wasn't sure if the books I had taken belonged on the shelves of the second level or not. I had just wanted to get away from the beautiful man and busy myself.

As I put a book into its place, I replayed the scene in my head. Besides his inhuman good looks, there had been something off about it. I realized that he had walked right by Barney without showing him an ID.

I wondered if the beautiful man worked at the library. But then I wondered why Suzanne hadn't told me about it. She had been so enthralled by Jacob's good looks, it didn't make sense that she wouldn't have mentioned the living Greek god working in the library.

I carried the other books through the different rows, trying to focus on doing my job and not on the man I had just seen. I hadn't been doing a good job because I suddenly ran right into someone.

The force surprised me. It was enough to send me backward. But before I could fall to the floor, and arm shot out and caught me from behind before the books had even hit the floor.

I looked up slowly into the eyes of the Greek god. I gasped audibly when my eyes met his. The hues of his eyes were unlike anything I had ever seen. The irises of his eyes were like two topaz stones. I made the connection quickly because of the ring my mom had given to me on my 16th birthday.

Almost as quickly as he had caught me, I was on my feet and he was on the ground picking up my books. When I realized what he was doing, I dropped to my knees to help him but he had already gotten back to his feet. He was holding all of the books in one arm like they each weighed the same as a feather.

"I'm…" My voice was lost for words. It was as if I no longer understood or could speak the English language.

My face reddened, but I couldn't look away to hide it. I couldn't stop staring into his beautiful eyes.

"You should be more careful." He suddenly said. His voice flowed from his perfect lips like music. It sounded like the best song I had ever heard.

"Mhmm." I managed to make a sound of agreement before I remembered that he was holding all of my books.

I reached out for them and he carefully transferred the stack into my waiting arms. When he did, my hand brushed against his for a moment. Though he was bundled up, his skin was almost colder than ice. I shivered.

But I barely had time to react to the coldness of his touch. The moment our skin made contact, he had let go of the books and taken a step back. The books fell into my arms and the sudden weight nearly brought me to my knees.

"Sorry." He murmured.

And then he was gone. It was as if he had vanished into a cloud of smoke. I turned to see that he had already made it down the stairs and was heading for the doors. It seemed impossible that he had moved so quickly.

I stared at him as he walked to the doors. He pushed them open without another glance back and disappeared.

* * *

Sylvia had gotten my note and had been delighted by the idea. While she planned out our tour, I changed out of my nice clothes. I pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt with short sleeves. The temperature had gone up a few degrees.

I removed the clip and swept my hair back and up into a ponytail.

"Alright I'm ready." I said, making my way into the kitchen/dining area.

"Okay. I figured we could walk through Greenwich Village. There's a place there called White Horse Tavern. A lot of students hang out there and, plus, Dylan Thomas used to go there all the time."

"That sounds great."

"Okay let's go. Maybe on our way back I can take you to see the Edward Cullen." Sylvia smiled, all of her teeth showing.

"I've never heard of that. Is it a building?" I asked with a furrowed brow.

"Oh…you'll see."

Sylvia locked up after we left the apartment. We headed down the stairs and I walked at her side.

"It's like twenty minutes." She said as we walked on the sidewalk.

I was still getting used to all of the people. I brushed past people and some of them even bumped right into me and kept walking. I tried not to let it bother me.

"So how was your first day Swan?" Sylvia asked.

"It was…good." I said, decided between the words 'was' and 'good' to leave out the man I had seen and bumped into. I didn't want her to get all excited or to make a big deal about it.

"Did anything interesting happen?"

"No. Not at all." I answered with a sigh.

I didn't like to lie. It was my belief that lies were for little kids and cowards. I had made it a point not to lie when I got to be in high school. But I felt the need to leave the beautiful man out.

"Well at least you had a good first day. I'll have to drop by sometimes and keep you company or bring you goodies." Sylvia said with a smile.

"It would be nice if you came to visit, but don't bring me anything."

"Are you one of those people that hates getting presents and when people pay for their meals?" Sylvia asked, looking over at me.

"I am." I admitted.

"Oh I'm going to have so much fun with you on your birthday."

"Well it's a good thing you don't know when it is." I answered with a smile of my own.

"I'll ask your dad when he comes."

"Darn."

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Greenwich Village. It was one of the few places I had seen in New York City with trees. Sylvia pointed out different buildings and told me what they were. She usually had scandalous stories to tell about them too. It was entertaining.

When it was around six, we headed to the tavern.

White Horse Tavern was small. There was a sign with old script painted onto it hanging above the place. If it hadn't been there, I wouldn't have known that we had reached it. Neon signs spelling out different kinds of beer hung in the windows.

Inside, it was smoky and moderately busy. Sylvia led me through the smoke and customers to an open table and we sat down.

"I'll go up to the bar and get us drinks. What do you want?" Sylvia asked as she rummaged through her purse. "I have a fake ID so if you want something with alcohol it's no problem."

"Uh…I'll just stick with Coke." I got into my purse for my wallet.

"Don't you dare. I'll get it." Sylvia said, pointing her finger threateningly at me. "And would it bother you if I had a beer?"

"As long as I can buy the next round." I said, putting my wallet on the table.

"Sure." She got up and headed up to the bar.

In almost the same moment as Sylvia had left the table to go get our drinks, a guy approached the table. He had short, blonde hair and wore very casual clothes.

"Hey there." He said, putting his hands on the table.

"Hi." I discreetly pushed my chair back more against the wall to face him completely. I didn't like how close he was.

"I haven't seen you around. Are you new to the area?"

"Yeah."

"I'm Chad." He stuck out his hand towards me.

"Bella." I shook his hand quickly.

"Are you going to NYU in the fall?"

"Yeah. Are you?"

"That's awesome. Yeah, I am too. It'll be my sophomore year there." Chad flashed me a smile. "I'm here with a friend. I noticed that you were too. Do you mind if we share a table with you?"

I didn't really want them to sit with us, but besides the fact that he had a problem with getting too close when he talked, he had been nice enough.

"Sure."

"Great. We'll be right over." He gave me another smile before he headed up to the bar too to get his friend.

Sylvia headed back with her beer and my Coke a second later.

"So who was that cutie talking to you?" She asked, setting my Coke down in front of me before taking her seat across from me.

"He said his name was Chad. He's a sophomore at NYU."

"Ooh. A sophomore huh?" Sylvia turned around and took a look at him as he headed back over. Then she turned back around to face me. "He's really cute. And so is his friend."

"I guess." I answered just as they got to the table.

"Hi. I'm Chad, and this is Troy." He shook Sylvia's hand before taking a seat next to me. Troy sat down beside Sylvia and she gave me a quick, excited look.

"So…what are you ladies going to NYU for?" Chad asked, looking from me to Sylvia. His shoulder brushed mine.

"I want to teach high school. I wouldn't mind going back to high school. Those were really good times." Sylvia laughed before she sipped her beer.

"That's true. But," Chad slowly slinked an arm around my shoulders, "there can be some really good times in college too."

I shrugged my shoulders as I reached for my Coke. Luckily, Chad removed his arm from around me as I took a sip. Otherwise I would have had to have been more direct and I wasn't good with confrontations.

"What about you? What are you going to NYU for?" He asked, putting his arm around my chair instead.

"English." I answered without looking at him.

"Small world. So am I." He replied excitedly. "Hopefully we'll be seeing more of each other."

"Maybe."

"What about you Troy?" Sylvia interjected.

I wasn't listening when he answered her. I don't think she was either. When I looked up from my lap I caught her eyes and I knew she could tell that Chad was making me uncomfortable.

"I have to excuse myself for a second. Bella, want to come with me?" Sylvia asked, nodding towards the restroom.

"Yeah sure." I got up a little too quickly and knocked my Coke off the table. It splashed out of the glass and onto Chad's pants. "Oh my god…I'm so sorry."

"It's no big deal." He answered, standing up to let me through and to take care of his pants. "Go on. I can take care of this."

I followed Sylvia into the bathroom.

"So what's up? You don't seem to like Chad too much." Sylvia said as she examined her face in the mirror.

"He's coming on a little too strongly." I explained. "I'm sorry if I'm-"

"You don't have to apologize Swan. I like when guys come onto me like that, but I'm not going to hold it against you because you don't. If he's making you uncomfortable, why don't we get out of here?"

"I'd feel bad that I ruined our night."

"You wouldn't have. We can come back anytime we want to." Sylvia assured me, turning to me. "Come on, let's go. I have something to cheer you up."

Sylvia came up with an excuse as to why we had to leave and got us out of there quickly, before Chad had the chance to ask for my number.

"Where are we going?" I asked, trying to keep up with Sylvia as she practically flew down the sidewalk.

"Hurry Swan, we don't have much time."

I managed to keep up with Sylvia. We were a few minutes from the apartment when she stopped us and pointed across the street.

"That's Stanley's. Stanley is a mechanic. He can fix pretty much everything. Once he sent someone over to fix the washer in the apartment." Sylvia explained, looking extremely excited.

"What about it?" I asked curiously.

"You have _got_ to see Stanley's best employee. His name is Edward Cullen and he's the hottest guy I have ever seen."

"Edward Cullen is a person?" I asked, remembering that she had referred to him as if he were a building earlier.

"No. He's a god." She sighed heavily and looked away from me. When she did, her eyes widened. "Look. There he is."

I turned my head to see who she was talking about. When I did, my eyes widened too.

"Th-That's Edward Cullen?"

"Yeah. He's…oh he's…mmm."

"Sylvia we have to go." I said, walking around her and tugging on her sleeve. "We have to go right now before he sees us."

"Why? What's wrong?" Sylvia turned and looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"That guy came into the library earlier today."


	3. A Trash Can's Trash Can

**Chapter Three - A Trash Can's Trash Can**

"Okay you said that when we got home you'd explain everything. So spill Swan! Now!" Sylvia practically attacked me the moment she had locked the door and spun around to face me.

"Why don't we change into our pajamas first? I'll make dinner and explain everything while I do." I promised with a gentle voice, raising my hands to her as if I was surrendering - which I was.

"Alright. But I'm already mad at you for not mention him earlier." Sylvia stuck out her lower lip in mock sadness and trudged off to her room.

I went to my room and took off my jeans and slipped into my sweatpants. After re-doing my ponytail, I emerged and went straight to the kitchen to start making dinner. Although I had changed at near lightning speed, Sylvia was sitting at the counter waiting for me in her frilly nightgown.

"And start talking three…two…go." She pointed at me meaningfully.

"What sounds good?" I asked, opening the fridge and looking around.

"Oh come on Swan. That's not what I meant. You could heat up some garbage from the dumpster outside and I wouldn't care as long as you told me about Edward being at the library."

"Edward." I murmured low enough for only my ears. I closed my eyes and put his face with the name. It fit like a glove.

"Hello? Earth to Bella." Sylvia said loudly.

"Sorry I was just thinking." I opened a drawer and pulled out the head of lettuce. "Is salad okay?"

The look on Sylvia's face was enough.

"Okay, okay. I was sitting behind the front desk with Suzanne talking about my family and…other things…when she had to leave for a meeting-"

"Whoa, whoa. Don't think I didn't catch that Swan. I guess you have another story to tell later. Over popcorn." Sylvia leaned forward over the counter, her eyes shining like a little kid on Christmas. "So Suzanne left for a meeting. Then what?"

"Then I was about to get back to work when…when this insanely beautiful man walked into the library." I absentmindedly reached out for a knife after pulling open a drawer. "And-"

"Bella…that's a can opener." Sylvia said with a giggle, pointing to my hand.

I looked down to see that I was trying to cut through the head of lettuce with a can opener. The blood rushed to my face as I hurriedly put it back in the drawer and pulled out a knife instead.

"Maybe I should wait to continue the story until I'm done cutting." I mumbled.

"I think that's a good idea." Sylvia leaned back in her stool, her hands gripping the counter. She looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "Oh Edward Cullen. I swear…that man is the best looking guy on this planet."

"I've never seen another man that looks like him." I agreed, cutting through the lettuce. I put the knife down and gathered up all of the sections to wash in the sink. "I mean…he's practically a statue that leapt to life. His skin is so pale and perfect, all I could think of was marble."

"What was he wearing?" Sylvia asked slightly breathless.

"A coat and a pair of jeans."

"That's too bad." When I turned to look at her she held up her hand. "I'm sure he looked like a model in that outfit, there's no denying that. But _I've _seen him in a short sleeve, white T-shirt and…wow. That man has some guns."

"Yeah. When I ran into him I figured he was pretty muscular underneath his coat." I turned and saw that Sylvia's mouth was wide open and her eyes were practically popping out of her head. "What?"

"You said he was at the library. You didn't say that you ran into him! What are you waiting for? You're not using any sharp objects right now." Her sentences ran together but I figured she wanted me to tell her about running into Edward.

"I was putting books away and was so busy thinking about how good he looked that I ran right into him."

When I thought about it, I began to blush again.

"Oh my god. Did you two speak?"

"I tried to but I was unsuccessful." I said sheepishly. I rummaged through cupboards until I found a box of croutons. "He said all but two words to me before he was out the door."

"What did he say?"

"He told me I should be more careful and then…" My voice trailed off as I thought about the incident with our skin touching. I hadn't noticed how many croutons I had shaken into the bowl of lettuce until Sylvia's voice interrupted my train of thought.

"Then what?"

"I don't know. It was weird. He had picked up my books and was handing them back to me and our hands touched. When they did, he kind of freaked out and backed away. And when he did he said he was sorry. And then he was gone." I shrugged.

"Wow." Sylvia came into the kitchen and started getting out bowls and forks while I picked out a salad dressing from the fridge.

"It was all really intense."

Even to me, my voice sounded far away. It was with Edward.

We ate dinner on the couch while we watched a movie, but I didn't even remember which one we had watched. I couldn't stop thinking about Edward for the life of me. I would see the color gray or feel a breeze coming from the fan and my mind would flash back to his coat or the coldness of his skin.

After the movie, Sylvia demanded to hear about whatever I had talked with Suzanne about. I ended up telling her about Jacob and showed her the picture. She had pretty much had the same reaction as Suzanne, but then we had both agreed that he wasn't in Edward's league.

We talked until ten. But then I had to go to sleep so that I could be ready for work in the morning. I was working my first full day and had to be awake and alert. Eight to ten was a long day.

But even after I had fallen onto the air mattress, my thoughts had drifted back to Edward. Even after I closed my eyes, I could see his face in my mind: his round chin, his square jaw, his topaz colored eyes, his full lips…

The screen on my phone displayed the time as one fifteen before I finally drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Although I was tired from being up late, I jumped right up when my alarm went off. I couldn't help but thinking that Edward might come back to the library.

I rushed through my shower, and cut myself shaving multiple times. After blow drying my hair, I went through the same rigorous process of brushing through it. But after I was done, I left it alone.

I brushed my teeth twice that morning. I wanted to make sure that my breath was fresh and that my teeth were clean. And I decided to wear my contacts again.

I dashed back into my room to change and then was out the door without getting anything to eat or leaving a note for Sylvia.

When I got to the library, I was winded and I could tell that my cheeks were rosy.

"What happened to you?" Barney asked concernedly.

"Oh nothing. I just wanted to get here early today." I said, breathing heavily.

"It's only seven thirty. You don't have to be here for another half hour." Barney said with a laugh.

"I know. I figured I'd take advantage of that donuts and coffee thing. Do you want anything?"

"If you want you can bring me a coffee."

"Sure thing." I smiled and walked past him, still trying to regain my breath.

"Bella? What are you doing here so early?" Suzanne asked, appearing with a coffee and a donut from the lounge.

"I wanted to get one of those donuts."

"Well help yourself." She said, looking puzzled as I walked past her and into the lounge.

I selected the first donut I saw and filled one of the little Styrofoam cups with coffee for Barney. I also grabbed a few packets of sugar just in case before heading back to the doors.

"I didn't know if you took sugar." I said, handing him his coffee and showing him the handful of packets.

"I think I'm the only old man that doesn't drink black coffee." He smiled and took the packets from my palm.

When I got back inside I went up to the front desk and handed Suzanne my purse.

"Bella are you sure you didn't come in early for another reason? Is something wrong?" She asked, dropping my purse to the ground without taking her eyes from mine.

"No. Everything's fine." I smiled and looked over at the rack. "Did another group of students have a study group last night?"

"Yes." She answered after a moment.

For the first half of the day, I spent it trying to busy myself to keep myself calm. I ran from level to level with stacks of books, brought coffee out to Barney, and even went out to get everybody lunch.

But after lunch, I lost hope that Edward was coming back. I wondered if I had freaked him out by staring and then by running into him and fumbling with words like a complete idiot.

Sure enough, ten rolled around and he hadn't shown up. I had to admit that I was disappointed. I was more than disappointed. I was crushed. And I knew how pathetic I was for being that upset that I hadn't seen Edward, a complete stranger that I had seen only twice.

When I got home, Sylvia was waiting to hear if I had seen him. She was disappointed that he hadn't come in either.

* * *

The next day was Saturday. I wasn't scheduled to work that weekend. I was worried that I was going to waste my weekend thinking about Edward, but then Charlie called to say that he wasn't too far from the apartment.

I went downstairs and waited excitedly for Charlie. He pulled up in a medium sized moving truck a few minutes after he had called.

"Dad!" I called as he opened his door and jumped down.

"Bells." He enveloped me in a bear hug, which surprised me. He had hugged me before, but never so fiercely. I welcomed it happily and hugged him back.

"It's good to see you." I said after we pulled away from each other.

"I've missed you at home." He replied with a big smile.

"You've missed my cooking."

"Well yeah…but I've missed just knowing that you were upstairs too." Charlie admitted quietly.

"I've missed you too dad."

"Well what do you say we start unpacking this truck so that I can take it to the nearest parking garage?"

I knew that Charlie probably felt awkward being so sentimental and so I humored him and went to the truck to help him unpack. I took boxes while Charlie carried up pieces of my bed and small pieces of furniture.

When Sylvia saw us come in, she helped me with boxes after I had introduced her to Charlie. With her help, we got done unloading the truck in a little under an hour.

"There's a third bedroom right next to mine. We're putting the air mattress that I've been sleeping on in there for you." I told Charlie when he returned from putting the truck into the parking garage.

"This apartment is really nice Bells. You got lucky." He replied, looking around at the living room and the kitchen/dining area.

"I know. We even have a washer and drier. They're in a closet in the hall." I showed him where they were and he was very impressed.

"Well I'll set up your bed-"

"No. You're tired. Go take a nap and then when you wake up I'll make dinner while you set up the bed." I insisted, pointing him in the direction of his room.

"Okay Bells. I'll see you later." He gave me a kiss on the head before disappearing into his bedroom.

While he napped, Sylvia and I unpacked my boxes.

"Geez Swan you weren't joking about having more books than clothing. I haven't run into a box of clothes yet, but this is the third box of books." Sylvia said as she started pulling out books and stacking them up against the wall.

"Well at least I warned you." I started filling the small bookshelf, which I had positioned in the corner next to the closet.

"Your dad seems really nice Bella." Sylvia said with a smile.

"He is. I missed him, but I didn't realize how much until I saw him pull up."

"I know what you mean. I miss my family all the time but when I hear my mom's voice on the phone, that's when it hits me the hardest." Sylvia emptied the box and flattened it out to put with the others.

"Are you going home for Thanksgiving?" I asked after a few moments.

"Nah. My parents are going on a second honeymoon around that time, so there won't be anyone home. I'm just gonna stay here."

I could hear the sadness in her voice.

"You know what you should do?" I asked, starting on the second shelf.

"Hmm?"

"You should come home with me."

"What?" Sylvia turned around from the box filled with my winter clothes.

"Yeah. I'm flying home to Forks for break and staying with my dad. My mom's flying in for two days to see me. You should come with me."

"Really?" She asked, the ghost of a smile tugging at her lips.

"Really. In fact, I was planning on booking my flight next week before prices get too high. I'll book two seats."

"Oh Bella…" Sylvia got up and came over to where I was kneeling. She threw her arms around me. "Thank you so much. That would mean a lot to me."

"You don't have to thank me. You've done a lot for me since I've been here."

"I'm really glad we were in the same group at that stupid orientation." Sylvia laughed as she pulled away. "Sorry for getting all heartfelt."

"That's okay." I smiled up at her.

We spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking and putting things away. After everything was in place, except for the pieces of my bed stacked in a corner, Sylvia went to shower and I went to start dinner.

I realized that we were running out of things again, and so I wrote a message for Charlie and Sylvia saying that I'd gone to the grocery store.

After grabbing my purse I was out the door and locked it behind me before heading down the stairs.

I walked to the grocery store, thinking about everything that had happened. It seemed like a whirlwind had spun into my life. I had graduated high school, moved out of Charlie's house and out of state, got a full-time job, and was starting school soon. It was hard to believe that a few months ago I was sitting at the lunch table at Forks High School with Angela, Mike, Tyler, Lauren, Eric and Ben.

I made it to the grocery store and took my time choosing things. It was hard to shop when you knew you could only get enough to fill two bags. I opened one of the doors to the refrigerated case and pulled out a carton of milk and put it into my basket.

After I had made my rounds and picked out the essentials, I got in line for the checkout. As I was standing in line, a headline across the front of a newspaper caught my eye. It read: Real Life Superhero In New York City?

I leaned in and scanned through the story. Apparently, there had been two different incidents in one night where an unidentified person had saved two different women from being taken advantage of. There were no witnesses besides the women, and they hadn't seen their hero's face.

"Ahem?"

I looked up to see that it was my turn. I quickly went up to the cashier and unloaded my basket.

When I left the store, I started walking back towards the apartment when I saw someone walking a yard or two ahead of me that made me stop dead in my tracks. I nearly dropped my bags when I realized that it was Edward.

I was surprised that I wasn't putting holes into the back of his head by the way that I was staring. I couldn't help it. I was frozen to the spot.

But after a moment, I watched Edward stiffen. And then he slowly began to turn around in my direction. This time, I was able to snap myself into action a little bit quicker and I was already walking and looking down at my feet. I didn't dare to look up and see if he was looking at me.

After a moment of walking, I got a little braver and slowly lifted my eyes from the sidewalk. To my dismay, Edward was nowhere in sight. I frowned, and my shoulders sank. I walked the rest of the way home looking at the ground.

When I got home, I heard Charlie working on my bed and Sylvia was nowhere in sight. I was glad that neither of them were in the living room or kitchen/dining area. I knew it was probably pretty clear on my face that I was upset about something.

I made spaghetti and cut up a loaf of bread for dinner. I sat on a stool at the table since there were only two chairs.

"So Bells, Jacob has been asking about you." Charlie said casually.

"Oh yeah? How's he doing?" I asked, pushing my pile of spaghetti around on my plate. I shoved my fist harder into my cheek and my elbow slid across the glass tabletop.

"He's doing alright…but he misses you a lot."

"I miss him and the other La Push guys too." I threw in that last part, not only because it was true, but also because I didn't want to hear Charlie talk about Jacob.

Charlie was convinced that Jacob and I belonged together. He had done just about everything to get us together. I felt like sometimes, he and Jacob conspired together. It was always annoying.

"I heard all about Jacob. I saw his picture too." Sylvia said, a naughty edge to her tone. "You should have brought him with you."

"I almost did. But he had already promised his buddies that he would go with them on one last camping trip before school starts."

"That's too bad. I would have liked to have met him." Sylvia kicked my foot underneath the table. "What's up Bella? Not hungry?"

"Not really." I answered, looking up at her. She gave me a concerned look.

"Are you sick honey?" Charlie asked, looking concerned too.

"No, just not hungry. I think I'm still adjusting to the time difference and stuff." I stood up and pushed my chair in before grabbing my plate. "Do you guys mind if I go take a shower?"

"Nope." Sylvia shook her head.

"Go ahead. Just come out to the living room when you're finished. Sylvia and I were going through the movies earlier and picked out one to watch."

Charlie still looked concerned but he didn't press the issue. That was why we got along. My mom would have interrogated me until I broke.

"I will."

I had just gotten into my bedroom when my phone vibrated. I pulled it out and flipped it open to see that I had gotten a text from Sylvia.

_are you ok? you looked super bummed_

I quickly typed out a response before tossing my phone onto my bed.

_maybe we can talk later_

I collected my towel, which I had unpacked, and my pajamas and went into the bathroom. While I let the water heat up, I looked at myself in the mirror.

I wondered if the reason that Edward was acting the way he was, was because of the way I looked. I had never thought I was ugly, but I didn't think that I was particularly striking either. But next to Edward, I probably looked like something that you would find in a trash can. In fact, I probably looked like something you would find in a trash can's trash can.

I got in the shower and took my time trying to relax. I made myself a promise - to not think about Edward for the rest of the weekend. Charlie was leaving Monday afternoon and I didn't want to spend the next two days moping.

After I showered and put on my pajamas, I joined Charlie and Sylvia in the living room with a smile on my face.

* * *

On Sunday, Sylvia and I showed Charlie around Greenwich Village and we even took a taxi across the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a good time and it was nice spending time with Charlie before he had to leave.

Monday morning, Charlie was up and ready to come into work with me. He was planning on spending the morning with me and leaving at noon.

"Hey Barney." I said as I approached the doors. "This is my dad, Charlie Swan."

"It's good to meet you." Barney said, shaking Charlie's hand. "You've got yourself a great girl here."

"Well thanks. She's not too bad." Charlie gave me a smile.

"Barney do you need anything?" I asked.

"Nah. Go on in with your dad. I'm sure Suzanne will want to meet him." He waved us away with a smile.

Suzanne was sitting behind the front desk when Charlie and I walked in. She looked up and her face brightened considerably when she saw that I wasn't alone.

"You must be Charlie. Bella's told me a lot about you." Suzanne said as she approached, hand extended, wearing a _very _warm smile.

"I hope only good things." Charlie looked sideways at me as he shook Suzanne's hand.

"Of course."

"Dad do you want a coffee or a donut or anything?" I asked after they stopped shaking hands.

"Uh…sure Bells."

"That's an adorable nickname." Suzanne looked at me as I moved towards the lounge. "Should I start calling you that?"

"No thanks."

The rest of the morning Suzanne, Charlie, and I sat in the lounge and talked. Charlie filled me in on what had been going on in Forks (Mike and Jessica had broken up once again and Sue Clearwater had started dating) and Suzanne brought up Jacob. Of course Charlie was thrilled that Suzanne seemed to be on the same page as him.

"I just don't understand. That boy has been your best friend through so much." Charlie said, looking at me. He then turned to Suzanne. "Did she tell you about when she almost killed herself cliff diving?"

"What?" Suzanne's eyes widened and she turned to look at me.

"Dad it wasn't even as big of a deal as-"

"Bella got it in her head one year to do particularly stupid things. She had Jacob fix up some motorcycles for her and they both went riding. She ended up with a huge gash on her head.

And then she decided to go cliff diving - without anyone else going with her. She would have drowned if it hadn't have been for Jacob. He happened to be around the area and saw her jump. He went into the water after her and saved her life."

"That's so romantic." Suzanne sighed.

"It was stupid." Charlie looked over at me with a serious look on his face. "I think she learned her lesson after she was grounded for a couple of months."

"Yeah. I sure did." I mumbled, looking at the wall above Suzanne's and Charlie's heads.

"You should tell Jacob to come for a visit during…Thanksgiving maybe?" Suzanne looked over at me and then back at Charlie.

"Actually, Bells is coming home for Thanksgiving."

"Speaking of which, I invited Sylvia to fly back with me too. Is that alright?" I asked, hopefully changing the subject.

"Sure. She seems like a really nice girl." Charlie nodded with a smile.

After that, Jacob didn't get brought up again.

Noon rolled around quickly and Charlie said goodbye to both Suzanne and Barney. Suzanne even suggested that the next time he came for a visit, they should go to dinner. Charlie had blushed.

I walked with Charlie to the parking garage.

"It was good seeing you dad. Thank you for bringing my stuff." I said as we reached the entrance.

"It wasn't a problem Bells."

"Call me when you stop for the night okay?"

"I will."

Charlie gave me a hug. It wasn't the same kind of hug from Saturday. He held onto me like he didn't want to let go, but then he was already pulling away from me after a few seconds.

"Take care of yourself honey." He told me, the serious look from earlier that day reappearing. "Don't do anything that'll get you into trouble. Be smart and be safe."

"I will dad."

"I love you Bells."

"I love you too dad. Have a safe drive."

I stood outside the garage while Charlie went in and got the truck. I stood and waved as he pulled out and disappeared around the corner.


	4. The Truth

**Chapter Four - The Truth**

Author's Note: First of all thanks to the people who actually take the time to leave reviews. It's so annoying when people favorite you as an author and favorite your story but they don't leave a review. But hey, me saying that in past stories I've written hasn't made people listen so why is it going to now? Anyways here's another chapter.

&

The next day I worked alone. Suzanne had an all day conference to go to. She had scheduled me to work a full day, so Sylvia told me that she'd bring me lunch and hang out at the library for awhile.

Things were quiet like they always were. There were a few students in the lounge, but other than that, it was only Barney and I.

I took the stack of books on the top of the rack outside the lounge and put them on the cart. I rolled it over to the stairs and took a few of them up to the second level. It made me smile when I got to use the moving ladder to put two of them away.

But as I was putting one of them on the shelf, I suddenly felt as though I was being watched. I looked down and tried to keep my composure when I saw Edward standing in the middle of the rows looking up at me.

For a long time we both stared at each other. My eyes never left his, and his gaze never wavered from mine. It was odd. Normal people looked away when they got caught staring. But here he was, showing no signs of embarrassment as his eyes bored into mine.

The electricity flowing between us was almost tangible. I wanted to reach out and touch it with my fingers, to wrap my hands around it and hold onto it tight so it couldn't escape.

But my mind wouldn't let my heart feel those things for long. Images of Edward's brusque behavior and slight rudeness flittered through my head.

I blinked and pushed my glasses up the bridge of my nose to break our stare.

"Can I help you with something?" I asked quietly.

"Yes actually." Edward came closer to the ladder and looked up at me. "I wanted to introduce myself to you after our brief encounter the other day. I also wanted to apologize to you for the way that I acted."

I was stunned into silence. I hadn't noticed that I was still holding onto the book that I had put on the shelf five minutes ago. I let go of it and cleared my throat.

"Would you do me the honor of coming down so that I can introduce myself properly?"

I slowly climbed down the ladder, carefully moving my feet so that I didn't trip. When my feet touched the ground, I looked up and realized that Edward was over a foot taller than me. I hadn't noticed the last time we'd been that close.

"My name is Edward Cullen." When he spoke, a crooked smile played across his lips. The sight of it was enough to throw my coherency out the window.

"I…I'm…my name is Bella. Bella Swan." I said breathlessly, extending a shaking hand towards him.

Just as quickly as before, my mind overshadowed my heart when I saw the hesitation on Edward's face. He looked down at my hand like it was a disgusting rat that I was asking him to pet.

"Okay. Just forget it." I retracted my hand and walked right past him to go back down the stairs to the cart for the third level books.

When I was walking back up the stairs to head to the third level, Edward was standing at the top waiting for me. I looked down at the floor when I got close, and kept walking up the next staircase without looking back.

"Bella."

I jumped at the sound of his voice and all of my books went tumbling to the floor. I hadn't even heard his footsteps behind me.

"What is it with you and making me drop my books?" I asked, an annoyed edge to my tone. I got down on my knees and starting picking them up.

"If I recall correctly, _you_ ran into _me_ the last time that I was here." Edward's tone mirrored mine, except his voice was enticing although he was being a jerk.

I stood up and turned my back on him to continue on my way.

"I'm sorry Bella. That was rude of me."

"Look, unless you need me to find a book for you or something, why don't you get on with your business? I have a lot of books to shelve."

"I won't get in the way of your work I promise."

I stopped and turned to look at him. Now that we were both level, I took the time to look at him. He looked just as beautiful as he had the other times I had seen him. The sight of him sent my mind and heart into war with each other.

"Why do you want to follow me around anyway? You practically ran away from me after you helped me with my books and now you won't even shake my hand."

"I'm sorry about that." Edward frowned. "Can we start over? Please?"

"Well that's easy for you to say right now - my hands aren't free." I nodded to the books in my arms.

He chuckled. His laugh was just as musical as his voice was.

"Here." In a flash, Edward had collected all of the books from my arms and held them under one of his like he had done the other day. "My name is Edward Cullen."

He stuck his hand out.

"Bella Swan."

I slowly reached out and placed my hand into his. His skin was just as cold as the other day. His hand barely tightened around mine, and he was already releasing me before I could revel in the smoothness of his skin.

When I had looked into his eyes during that brief moment, he had looked like he was concentrating very hard on something. His jaw had been set and his eyes were far away from me though they were looking into mine. He had almost looked like he was in pain.

"Now may I follow you?" Edward asked, a brilliant smile replacing the pained expression on his face.

"S-Sure." I shook my head as if to physically shake some sense into myself.

I turned around and started walking towards one of the rows. I walked very slowly. I felt self conscious knowing that Edward was following me, that he was watching my every move.

I wondered how I looked to him. I wondered what a man as incredibly handsome as he was saw when he looked at me.

When I looked in the mirror, I saw a girl with pale skin and a pair of lips too big for her face. I saw a girl with long, dark hair and a pair of matching, dark eyes. I saw a plain Jane. I saw those things and I wasn't unordinary exquisite. I was average.

"Bella." Edward raised his voice at the same moment I felt his hand on my shoulder, jerking me backward. The coldness seeped through the material of my shirt and I shivered underneath his hand. It vanished instantly.

I looked up and realized that I almost run into a wall.

"Oh god." I muttered, my cheeks aflame.

As I turned down one of the rows, I heard Edward chuckle from behind me.

"It seems like you enjoy bumping into things…and people."

"It's not that I like it." I pushed a book into its proper place, still hiding my red face from his eyes. "I guess I'm just good at it."

"Apparently so." He was silent for a second before speaking again. "What were you thinking about?"

"Hmm?"

"Well you had to have been thinking about something to have not been paying attention to where you were going. What were you thinking about?"

I stopped dead in my tracks. Slowly, I turned around to face him. When I did, I almost gasped audibly but couldn't find any air to intake.

His golden eyes were smoldering. It was as if there were flames dancing in them.

"Tell me." His voice was lower than I had ever heard it, and very serious.

It was as if the combination of the tone of his voice and the entrancing look in his eyes cast a spell over me. My lips were moving before my mind could stop them.

"I was thinking about what I see when I look in the mirror."

"Why?" Edward raised an eyebrow and the simplicity of the action was enough to take my breath away again.

"I…" My voice was lost in my breath.

Being around Edward was hazardous to my health. Whenever he was around, I lost oxygen for short periods of time. I was going to get brain damage. But I didn't care about that. What I cared about was how stupid I must have looked.

"You…?" Edward took a step towards me.

"I…don't want to have this conversation." I turned away from him, breathing heavily but as quietly as possible. I rushed into another row.

I wasn't surprised when Edward followed me.

"Why not?"

"Why are you following me?" I asked, turning towards him. "I can't figure you out. It seems like you don't want to be anywhere near me, but then it seems like…"

"Like what?" Edward asked quietly, taking a step towards me.

I felt his cool breath fan across my face. The scent filled my nose and I took an impossibly deep breath to fill my lungs with it.

"Like you can't get close enough." I dared to raise my eyes to look up into his. I hadn't realized how close his face was to mine and I froze.

"Does it bother you?" He asked, his voice even quieter than before.

"N-No." I answered, my voice barely audible. I wasn't sure he had heard my answer until I saw the smoldering look in his eyes flicker away.

My brow furrowed. It looked like my answer made him _mad._

For a few moments we stood, our faces only inches apart, staring into each other's eyes. His expression never thawed. But still he remained there in front of me.

"Hey Bella! Sylvia's here!" Barney called. "Bella!"

I didn't answer. But Edward suddenly walked past me without a word.

I turned around and watched him walk away from me. I couldn't find my legs to move to go after him. I just stood there.

A few minutes later, Sylvia was turning the corner and coming down the row I was standing in. She was biting her lip.

"Bella…please…please tell me that I didn't interrupt anything between you and Edward." She grabbed both of my arms. "Bella?"

"No," I assured her with a small smile, "no you didn't interrupt a thing."

* * *

For the next week, there wasn't any sign of Edward. I worked a few half days, but mostly full days. But when the weekend came, I was free.

Sylvia had spent all of Friday trying to convince me to go out with her that night. She hadn't been pushy, she had been a concerned friend. It had been pretty clear that I had been upset about Edward.

I decided to go with her. She had been really great and hadn't ever pushed me or forced me to go out with her. She was really happy that I decided to go.

"Do I have to dress up?" I asked with a groan.

"No. You can wear whatever you want Swan." She assured me as she applied mascara. "You can wear your pajamas if you want to."

"I just might."

"Well go get ready. We'll leave in a half hour okay?"

I left the bathroom and went into my bedroom to get ready. I opened my dresser drawer and started to pull out a pair of jeans.

But then I thought about Sylvia. I had seen her go out at night before and she always wore something nice. I didn't want to rain on her parade and make her unapproachable by wearing jeans. But I also wanted to be comfortable.

I settled on the pair of high-waisted, black dress pants I had worn for my last interview with Suzanne. But I did wear my Linkin Park band T-shirt, and tucked it into my pants before slipping on my flats.

"You look good!" Sylvia said happily when I came out of my room to go into the bathroom. She was using my curling iron on her already wildly wavy hair.

"Thanks. What are you going to wear?" I asked as I pulled the brush through my hair. I reached into the plastic case and pulled out a clip to fasten most of the front sections of my hair back.

"I have this little black dress laid out on my bed." She put down the curling iron. "In fact I'm gonna go put it on. Want me to curl pieces of your hair for you when I come back?"

"No thanks."

I studied my face in the mirror. I pulled off my glasses and swapped them out for contacts. I hadn't worn them at all that week.

"You look great." Sylvia said reassuringly as she appeared.

"Wow Sylvia." I looked over at her and realized that she hadn't been kidding about her black dress being little. I almost blushed just looking at her and wondering what something like that would look like on me.

"You know, I've never seen you wear any kind of makeup." She commented as she resumed curling her hair. "Do you ever?"

"Not really. I'll dab on some concealer every once in awhile."

"Concealer doesn't count." Sylvia said with a smile. "I mean like lipstick. I would kill to have lips like yours."

"They look goofy on me. My face is so little and then my lips are huge." I looked in the mirror at them and swept my fingertips over them.

"Trust me - you don't look goofy."

"If you say so Sylvia."

I hung out in the bathroom while she finished her hair and applying the rest of her makeup. After she was done and had put everything away, we were out the door.

"So where are we going?" I asked as we walked down the street. The sun had already set and it was getting darker by the minute.

"About five minutes from here to The Red Lion."

"I've heard of that place. Haven't a lot of musicians gotten big from playing there?"

"Yeah. Dana Fuchs got her start there."

When we got to the place it was already crowded. It was so loud that I couldn't hear Sylvia when she was talking right next to me. And it was impossible to move around without having to squeeze past the dancing, sweaty masses.

"Bella! Bella do you want a drink?!" Sylvia shouted near my ear.

"I'm good! You go on!" I shouted back.

"Okay! Stay put! I'll be right back!"

I leaned against one of the walls and waited for Sylvia to return. I figured she was probably going to get a beer. I looked around at all of the people there. A band was playing on the stage, jumping around and yelling. The girls in the audience were barely dressed.

I suddenly regretted my decision in going out with Sylvia. I felt uncomfortable and I knew that my discomfort was going to be obvious. And I didn't want to ruin Sylvia's good time. I decided to tell her I was going home when she got back.

"Hey!"

I looked up to see a guy standing in front of me, leaning forward. He was holding a bottle of beer in one hand, his other was pressed to the wall above my head.

"Hi." I mumbled, looking down at my shoes.

"You're cute! You're really cute!" He gave me a smile.

"Thanks."

"I really like the band that's playing! They're great aren't they?!" He nodded towards the stage.

"I guess."

"So do you want to dance?!"

"Um no thanks. I was actually leaving." I ducked underneath his arm and headed towards the door, phone in hand. I typed out a message and sent it to Sylvia's cell phone.

_hey I left. I got a headache all of a sudden. you have a good time though!_

I started walking down the street towards the apartment. As I was walking, I looked up and across the street to see Stanley's. The lights were still on in the large, glass window of the garage.

Curious, I looked both ways before scampering across the street. I looked in the window to see that the place was empty except for a dirty taxi. As I looked it over, I saw someone's feet sticking out from underneath it.

I hadn't ever stopped to look at Edward's shoes so I couldn't tell if it was him.

I watched the window for a good ten minutes before my phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out to read the text from Sylvia.

_ok. are you sure you don't want me to come 2?_

I typed out a response before shoving my phone back into my pocket.

_no really have fun. sorry to be a dud_

When I looked up from my pocket, my eyes met Edward's. I froze to the spot. All I could do was stare back at him. His eyes wouldn't release mine from his gaze.

But after a moment, I felt the blood flooding my face and I turned and started walking quickly back across the street.

"Bella! Bella!" Edward called after me.

I kept walking down the sidewalk, hands shoved into my pocket and my head down. I could feel my cheeks getting hotter as I heard his hurried footsteps getting closer.

"Bella wait a second." His voice was in unison with his hand wrapping around my arm gently. I shuddered against his cold touch and he pulled his hand away from me. "What are you doing out here alone?"

I couldn't help the dry laugh that came out of my mouth.

"_That's_ why you came after me? You didn't want to yell at me for watching you through the window?"

I started walking again, but his hand found my shoulder, which was covered by a sleeve. I turned around to face him.

"Well I don't really feel like I'd have the right to be mad at you. I did come into your place of business the other day and follow you around like a lost puppy."

Edward released my shoulder, but he flashed his brilliantly white teeth at me.

"That's true." I would have been dazzled by his smile had I still not been so embarrassed. And if the smile hadn't faded from his beautiful face so quickly.

"You still didn't answer my question. What are you doing out here alone?"

"I was walking home from The Red Lion." I pointed down the street in the same direction as the club.

"You didn't strike me as the type of girl that went to clubs." Edward raised an eyebrow.

It was hard to breathe when I noticed Edward's eyes traveling over my body. I began to blush when I tried to imagine what he was thinking about.

"I…I don't."

"I don't follow." Edward's eyes flickered back up from roaming my body to meet mine. Even with his eyes on mine, I found it difficult to breathe.

"My roommate." I breathed quickly, almost immediately sucking in another breath before I had finished my sentence. "She likes to go out."

"I see. Well then why don't you stay home?"

"She wanted me to go out with her. She knew I was…" My voice trailed off and I looked away from Edward's gaze.

"Was," I was surprised to feel a finger beneath my chin, tilting my face up gently, "what?"

When I looked into his eyes, they were like melted honey. I couldn't hide myself from him, especially when he was gazing intensely into my eyes. It was as if I was stripped completely naked in front of him without any way to cover myself.

"She knew I'd been…_upset_ this past week." I finally murmured, as if it were a secret and there were hundreds of people listening in.

"Because of me?" He asked without hesitation, his eyes still soft.

"Because you never came back."

In a flash, Edward's finger left my skin and his eyes had hardened. He visibly set his jaw before taking two long strides past me.

"I'll walk you home."

I scurried after him, but I didn't dare speak. I looked over at Edward. His jaw was still set, and his eyes were directly ahead. His fists were balled and jammed into his coat pockets. I had seen that look before. He had looked that way after I had told him it didn't bother me when he got close to me.

"Why do you get mad at me for telling the truth?" I asked suddenly, trying to keep up with his quick pace.

"I don't." He was somehow able to look over at me and still keep striding forward ahead of me. "I get mad at what the truth is."

"Why?"

Edward whirled around and looked at me with his hard eyes. The melted honey had frozen and become solid. I shivered and he wasn't even touching me.

"Because. You should _not _like me being close to you." His musical voice had withered away and become the closest thing to a growl.

"B-But I do." I reached out, unthinking, to grab his wrist, but in a flash, he had moved back several steps.

"You shiver whenever our skin touches."

"Your skin is cold."

"It's because you're scared. Your subconscious is screaming at you and your body responds to it."

"Why would I be scared?" I asked, daringly taking a step towards him.

Edward's brow furrowed. In a second, his hand was rubbing out the lines and creases etched into his marble skin. He closed his eyes for a few moments.

"You're home. I have to go."

With that, he was walking past me in the direction of Stanley's. I looked up and realized that we were, in fact, in front of the apartment. But before Edward could escape from me in the blink of an eye, I lowered my gaze.

"Edward!"

He stopped. Slowly, he turned around.

"Do you feel it?" I took a few steps towards him but didn't allow myself to get too far. "Do you feel the electricity between us?"

I watched him from where I stood. I was going out on a limb by asking him that question. But I had to know how he felt.

"Yes." He turned and kept walking.

I sighed, from both holding my breath and out of relief. I reached for the door when I suddenly realized something.

Edward had walked me home…without me ever having told him where I lived.


	5. No Going Back

**Chapter Five - No Going Back**

I had gone to bed the second I had left myself into the apartment, but I hadn't fallen asleep until late. I had been up thinking about Edward. I tried to decipher his actions and his words. He felt the electricity between us, and yet, he was angry that I didn't mind him being close.

He had to have known that it wasn't just that I didn't mind, he had to know that I liked it.

When I woke up the next morning, because I had felt guilty about leaving Sylvia high and dry at the club, I decided to tell her about Edward.

But when I went to her bedroom, she wasn't in bed. I couldn't find her anywhere in the apartment and there wasn't a note on the freezer door.

I began to panic and ran to my room to call her.

"What's up Swan?" Sylvia answered.

"Oh thank god. I thought something happened to you." I flopped down on my bed and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sorry I didn't mean to worry you. I ran into Troy at the club last night and went back to his place." She lowered her voice suddenly. "Chad lives here too. He was asking about you at the club and when we came back here."

"Ugh." I rolled my eyes.

"Bella maybe you should consider Chad. I mean…I know you and Edward has those two moments together but…I don't want to see you getting hung up on him when he's acting so shady."

"Actually I ran into him last night when I was coming home."

"What?! Oh my god tell me everything!"

I was about to open my mouth but I heard a deep voice in the background.

"Just give me a few minutes okay? Yeah. Yeah. Okay that sounds fine." Sylvia's voice sounded further away. "Bella? Sorry about that. Troy just came in and asked if I wanted to go to breakfast."

"Oh well go ahead. That'll be fun."

"But I want to hear about Edward." Sylvia whined playfully.

"I'll tell you all about it when you get home."

"Okay." Sylvia sounded like she couldn't wait. "Hey I just got an idea. Why don't you meet us for breakfast? Troy said Chad's coming too."

"No thanks. You have a good time and I'll see you later."

"Alright Bella. I'll be home later."

"Bye." I flipped my phone shut and set it down on my nightstand.

I decided then to get up and get out of the apartment. I didn't want to spend the rest of the day sitting around.

After a shower and toweling my hair until it was only slightly damp, I got dressed and went to write a note in case Sylvia got home before I did. I told her that I had gone out to explore and that I would be back in a few hours.

I made sure that I had my cell phone with me before leaving the apartment and locking it up.

I walked down the sidewalk, not really knowing where I was going. I made sure that I looked up at road signs so that I could find my way back.

What I really felt like doing was walking along the beaches back at La Push. I had used to do that all the time. I would spend entire days out there on the beaches and then back at one of the boys' houses for a night of movies or storytelling. There had never been a dull moment there.

I suddenly became very aware of the fact that I was in close proximity to Stanley's. I allowed myself one glance in the garage's direction. When I didn't see Edward in the large window, my eyes flickered forward once again.

After walking for awhile, my stomach began to growl. I went into the nearest diner and got a small table in the corner.

"What can I get for you sweetie?" The waitress asked, pulling out a pad of paper.

"Um…a glass of water for now. Do you mind if I look over the menu for a second?" I asked.

"Sure thing. I'll be back in a few minutes."

I watched as she walked behind the counter. As she passed by a customer, he said something to her and she nodded. He pointed to whatever was in front of him. I leaned to the side to see it was a newspaper.

"…cold hands…"

My heart stopped.

Edward's face flickered through my mind.

"…okay?"

I shook my head and saw that the man at the counter and the waitress were both staring at me with concerned expressions.

"Yeah…um…I was just wondering if I could…" I nodded at him.

"Borrow the paper? Sure." The man got up and walked it over to me. "I was just reading that article about New York City's very own superhero."

I looked down at the paper and read the headline: What The Police Don't Want You To Know About New York City's 'Superhero'.

This time, I didn't scan through. I read the entire article three times.

_Ordinarily, good Samaritans should receive thanks and praise for their good deeds. But in this case, this journalist isn't so sure. Our previous articles held our good Samaritan up as a knight in shining armor, protecting the weak. But, new facts have come to light that cast our so-called hero in a different light. Several facts about the multiple cases concerning our unknown hero have been kept out of the papers - until now. Most of these facts are all incredibly disturbing. The faint of heart should not read on. The assailants, all men, were all found to have been savagely beaten. Most, if not all, of their bones had been broken into splinters. The blow that appeared to have killed each assailant was the one to their head. Autopsies show that their skulls had been completely obliterated into dust. To top all of that off, the assailants' bodies were all found to have been drained completely - of their blood. Skin on their throats and wrists had been cut away post mortem. The coroner believes that the skin was removed to hide bite marks. The final detail that was kept from everyone was matching statements from all of the women, children, and men that were saved saying that their 'hero' had cold hands. All of the victims had corroborating statements that they didn't get a glimpse of their rescuer, and yet, they know the temperature of his skin. I doubt that anyone can move that fast. It is this journalist's opinion that the truth is being covered up. The police and the victims know more than they are revealing. And I intend to find out what._

I finally pushed the newspaper away from me. I hadn't noticed, but the waitress had brought me my water while I had read.

The only image I had had in my mind while reading was Edward. It seemed silly to have thought of him. But there were a few things that had reminded me of him: the cold hands, the quickness, and even the strength.

"What am I thinking?" I asked aloud, pressing a hand to my forehead.

The only strength that Edward had shown was in the library with the books. But he was a mechanic. Though I hadn't seen them, Sylvia had said he had big arms.

"There's an explanation for everything. This is all coincidental."

"What is sweetie?" I looked up to see the waitress standing next to me, still looking worried. She placed hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay honey?"

"I'm fine." I managed to smile up at her.

"Okay. Well what can I get for you? You look hungry."

"I am. I'll um," I hadn't looked at the menu. I just said the first thing that came to mind, "have an omelet. I don't care which one."

"Do you want wheat toast, white-"

"Surprise me." I smiled up at her.

"Alright. It'll be out shortly." She gave me a smile, but her eyes still looked worried.

I put my face into my hands and tried not to see Edward's face. I failed miserably.

* * *

I spent the rest of the day finding different places to sit and think. I hadn't wanted to go home because I didn't want to have to explain everything to Sylvia. I didn't want her to think I was crazy, or worse, to think I was right. But I didn't even know if I was right.

I closed my eyes and thought about the stories that I had heard in La Push as I sat on a bench in a little dog walking park. I kept thinking about La Push and I knew that there had to have been something that I had heard that had to do with Edward to make me think of it.

As I was sitting there, a flashback smacked me upside the head.

"_You want to hear a scary story?" Jacob asked suddenly, taking the flashlight from Sam and holding it under his face._

"_A scary story huh? What's it about?" I asked, leaning back against the couch._

_Jacob looked around at everyone with a grin._

"_The cold ones."_

"_The cold ones?" I asked curiously. "I've never heard of them."_

"_Jake." Sam's voice was laced with a warning. "No."_

"_Oh come on. Just let me tell it." Jacob clicked the flashlight on and off while he whined like a little kid._

"_No. It gives us all the creeps." Quil agreed._

"_But Bella's never heard it before." Jacob pointed across the room at me while swinging the light over Sam. "Let me tell it just this once."_

_After a moment of grumbling, Sam nodded._

"_Alright!" Jacob pumped his fist in the air._

"_Okay, okay. Just tell me the story." I threw one of my shoes in his direction._

"_Don't get testy Bella." He stuck his tongue out at me. "So you know how the Quileutes are supposedly descended from wolves?"_

"_Yeah. Come on Jacob tell the story!" I folded my arms over my chest._

"_Calm down! So anyways, there was a family that moved to Forks like…ten years ago. They were supposedly descendents from an enemy clan."_

"_Enemy clan?"_

"_Yeah. But they claimed to be different from the creatures that they were descended from. So the Quileute made a treaty with them: if they promised to stay off of our land, we wouldn't tell people what they were."_

"_And what were they?" I asked, leaning forward._

My eyes shot open.

"Vampires."

* * *

I made it to the library after running from the park that I had been in. I had tripped once and scraped my palms against the sidewalk. I walked past Barney, waving at him when he smiled and said hello.

"Bella? You don't work today." Suzanne said curiously from the front desk.

"I know." I said as I walked past her.

"Is everything okay?" She asked, loud enough for me to hear.

"Yeah everything's…fine."

I made my way through different rows, pulling books off of shelves and piling them one on top of the other. When I couldn't see over my stack, I stumbled down to the lounge. I chose a corner to sit in and began to read.

There were two opening quotes on the first page of the first book I opened. The first one, from Reverend Montague Summers, painted vampires as fascinating to most, and yet, he said that "…who is himself neither ghost nor demon, but yet who partakes the dark natures and possesses the mysterious and terrible qualities of both."

The second quote came from Rousseau. I felt a shiver race up my spine when I read through his quote.

"If there is in this world a well-attested account, it is that of vampires. Nothing is lacking: official reports, affidavits of well-known people, of surgeons, of priests, of magistrates; the judicial proof is most complete. And with all that, who is there who believes in vampires?"

I went on to read through different kinds of vampires. I flipped through the different letters, stopping over ones that caught my eye. I read through different bios and descriptions for hours.

I read about the Danag. The story of the Danag became interesting when I read that they had once had worked with humans for many years. However, the partnership ended one day when one of the Danag sucked blood from a woman's wound and ended up draining her dry.

I remembered both Jacob's story and the part of the article that I had read about the assailants having been found drained of their blood.

The other vampires that captured my interest were the Romanian Varacolaci (could appear as a beautiful, pale skinned human) and the Stregoni benefici (an Italian vampire on the side of goodness, and a mortal enemy of all other vampires).

When I had finished going through many of the books I had grabbed, I realized that the sun had set and it was dark. I quickly put all of the books back onto their appropriate shelves and went down to the front desk.

"So what is it that you were studying?" Suzanne asked.

"Oh…nothing special." That was actually the opposite of what it was.

"For nothing special you sure were here for a long time."

"I know. I lost track of time." I smiled. "I'll see you on Monday Suzanne."

"Alright Bella. Have a good rest of the weekend."

I walked up to the doors and realized it was raining. I should have been the most prepared person after having lived in Forks for two years. Yet I was without an umbrella and I wasn't wearing a hooded sweatshirt or jacket.

When I walked outside, still shielded beneath the sheet of glass over the door, I saw that it wasn't just raining - it was raining hard. I sighed. It was almost always rainy in Forks, but it was hardly ever hard rains.

I took a breath and hastened my steps down the sidewalk. I could feel the rain soaking through my clothes and my hair became heavier. I could barely see in front of my face but I moved quickly towards the place I planned to cross.

As I made it to the edge of the sidewalk, my clumsiness couldn't resist itself. I slipped harshly on the slick cement and pitched forward into the street. My knees scraped against the asphalt, as well as my elbows.

In that moment, several things happened. I had fallen into the street. In that moment, that was the only thing that I was aware of.

However, the driver of a taxi that had been speeding down the street was losing the battle to brake. The wet street fought against the screeching tires. The taxi was headed straight for me.

I looked up and saw the taxi screeching towards me through the rain. I wanted to shut my eyes to brace myself for the blow. But before I could, several things happened in the next moment. And I was aware of all of them.

A blurred figure was suddenly throwing itself in front of me. In those next few seconds, time seemed to slow as the blurred figure became recognizable to me. I looked into the eyes of Edward Cullen as his burned into mine with the most intense emotions. I couldn't have looked away had I wanted to.

Time, which had begun to tick by so slowly, came to a crashing halt as Edward wrapped his arms around me with breathtaking strength. In his strong hold, I waited to feel the impact of the taxi with Edward. But I never did.

The next thing I knew, I was being lifted. I reacted immediately. My arms went around Edward's neck, and slowly wrapped my legs around his midsection.

Perhaps to make up for the many moments of slow motion, time sped up rapidly. Or at least, that was how it seemed. Only when I opened my eyes did I realize that I had closed them after Edward had put his arms around me.

The second I opened my eyes, my vision was even more blurry than it had been in the rain. Colors without shapes flew past me and swirled together to make one big mess of a painting. My stomach began to turn and twist with motion sickness. I shut my eyes tight and tried to breathe, but found it very difficult to do.

But then, as quickly as we had been moving, we had stopped.

"Bella?" Edward's bewildered voice sounded far away, although I knew that I was on his back. "Bella? Are you alright?"

I was unable to find my lips to tell him that I was. I wasn't aware of my grip on him loosening. All I could focus on was the spinning in my head and the nausea that was sweeping over me in waves.

"Bella!"

I hadn't realized it, but I had begun to slip from Edward's back. With a few quick movements, he had swung me from his back to his front and had me cradled in his arms like a baby.

"Bella can you hear me?" His concerned voice sounded a little closer.

"Yes." I breathed, looking up at his face. His beautiful features were displaying so many emotions at once. There was worry in his eyes, but his set jaw showed his anger, and his lips trembled with sadness…or fear.

"Are you feeling sick?" He asked, his tone gentler than before.

"A little." I blinked a few times to clear my head.

Edward carried me swiftly, but carefully, up a flight of stairs. I didn't dare to move my head from its current position to look around and see where he had taken me. I shut my eyes and tried to concentrate on not getting sick.

After a moment, Edward gently laid me down. And then his cold hand was upon my forehead. The chill of his touch soothed the spinning in my head.

"Thank you." I smiled and slowly opened my eyes.

"You're welcome." His voice was low. "Bella, do you think that you feel well enough to stand? You need to change out of your wet clothes."

"I think so." I slowly sat up. "But…I don't have any-"

"I have clothes that you can borrow for now." Edward walked through a door in the room that we were in. "I'll start a shower for you."

I looked around. I was in the most exquisite bedroom I had ever seen. All of the furniture in the room was made out of a dark, almost red, wood. Everything glistened as though it had just been polished.

I was sitting in a canopy bed with an extravagant, deep red canopy billowing around the bed. My hands ran over the gold sheets. I felt guilty for lying in such a beautiful bed soaking wet.

I got out of bed quickly and stumbled. But Edward was there in a second, steadying me.

"You really need to be careful." He said in the same low voice, a harshness intertwining with his words.

I didn't know how to respond to his biting words. I nodded meekly. It must have been in the way my eyes drifted to the floor, because I heard him sigh quietly before gently tipping my face up.

"I'm sorry." His words were simple, and yet, they were deep and meaningful. "Go shower. I'll have clothes laid out for you when you're done."

And then he was gone.

I went into the bathroom. It was just as lavish as the bedroom. A very large, Jacuzzi tub was to my left, while a long row of mirrors was at my right. There were four sinks beneath the mirrors, and a handful of hygienic products lining them.

I closed the door behind me and hesitated. I decided not to lock it, but waited a few moments before I began to undress. My T-shirt was soaked through. A heavy blush radiated across my face when I realized that Edward had probably seen my bra through my shirt.

I peeled off my Capri pants and cast them aside with my shirt. Then I unhooked and slowly pulled my bra off. When I did, I shivered and realized how cold I was. I quickly took off my underwear and got into the waiting shower.

The shower could have fit an entire sports team. I felt so small inside of it.

I would have felt uncomfortable being naked under the same roof as Edward had the hot water not been so relaxing. I used one of the many bottles of shampoo and washed my hair.

After I had rinsed my hair and lingered under the hot water for a few minutes, I stepped out of the shower. I searched through the small closet for a towel, and pulled out one to dry myself off with.

I then moved it through my wet hair as I swept my hand over the foggy mirror to study myself. I was flushed from the hot water, and there were beads of sweat at my hairline. I wiped them away while I continued to dry my hair.

As soon as my hair was no longer dripping, I wrapped my damp towel around myself and cautiously opened the door. I poked my head out into the bedroom and saw that Edward had laid out clothes on the bed like he had said he would.

Before going over to the bed to look at the clothes, I went to the front door and locked it. I didn't think that Edward would ever disrespect me, but I didn't want him to accidentally walk in on me while I was changing.

I began to blush when I realized that Edward had laid out a nightgown. It was very beautiful: simple and white with sleeves that covered my arms to the elbow. I ran my hand over the material carefully. Whatever it was, it was incredibly soft and smooth. I had never felt anything like it before.

The only reason I decided that I would wear the nightgown was because I saw that, next to it, was a cream colored wrap. It was almost as long as the nightgown itself. I had a hard time with it because I had never worn one like it. There were sleeves hidden in the billowing fabric.

After I had dressed, I went back into the bathroom to check myself one last time. The blood had drained from my skin and I was back to being almost as pale as the nightgown.

I tugged a brush through my long, damp hair a couple of times before I was satisfied.

I slowly emerged from the bedroom, closing the door quietly behind me. I walked to the banister and looked over the side. I gasped when I realized how many floors up I was. I had to have been at least four stories up from the ground floor.

I made sure that I walked carefully down the stairs so that I wouldn't trip over myself and make Edward angry again. It was hard to concentrate on walking, because on the way down, I was looking at all of the beautiful artwork and sculptures on every floor and in ever corner.

When I got to the ground floor, I stood in the center of the foyer, not knowing what to do or where to go. I noticed a dark, round table to my right and studied the pictures on it.

In a gold frame, there were seven people pictured on different levels of stairs. Each and every person was incredibly and indescribably beautiful - just like Edward.

On the highest set of steps stood a man and a woman. The man had tidy, blonde hair. He looked like a suave movie star. But I noticed that he wore a long, white coat and a stethoscope around his neck. I wondered if most of his patients were women.

He had his arm around a woman with thick, caramel colored hair. She had the sweetest looking face and a curvy, yet slender, body. She was just as beautiful as everyone else in the picture, but she was the most real looking. Her smile was warm, it looked as though she had been stifling laughter.

On the second highest level stood another man and woman. The man was easily the tallest of all the other men in the picture. He was also the most muscular. In fact, he was probably one of the most muscular men I had ever seen. They bulged out considerably from beneath his sweater. But there was such a contrast in his dark, curly hair and the crater like dimples in his smile.

He also had his arm around the woman beside him. When my eyes ran over her, my jaw dropped open and I felt my eyes nearly fall from their sockets. She was, without a doubt, the most beautiful person that I had ever seen. Her hair was the color of pure gold and fell in illustrious waves down her back. She looked like she didn't care about the picture that was being taken, and still she looked like a model. She was the only one not smiling.

On the third level there was, yet again, another man and woman. I looked from one to the other and thought about how peculiar they both looked. Even though they appeared to be quirky, they were still just as breathtaking as the others.

The man had dark blonde hair that was slightly messy, but not at all like Edward's. He was muscular too, more so than Edward but not anywhere near the second man. There was something hidden behind the features of his face. His smile was almost pained.

And the woman in his arms, was the smallest of all the people pictured. The first thought that came to mind when I studied her was Tinkerbell. She was very pixie-like in every sense of the word, from her haircut to her small stature. Her black hair was jagged and short. She wore a huge smile on her face.

Standing on the floor, in front of the stairs, was Edward. He stood alone, looking just as beautiful and godlike as ever. But there was a sadness behind his eyes.

I ran my fingers across the glass over him.

"That was taken…a long time ago."

I whirled around, nearly knocking over the picture. I gripped the table for support.

Edward was leaning against the wall a few feet away. He had changed clothes too and it was hard not to stare. I had never seen him in a short sleeve shirt. His arms were crossed over his chest.

"Y-You…scared me." I said after a moment of staring.

"Sorry about that." He offered me one of his breathtaking crooked smiles.

I tried to recover. I turned back around to look at the picture.

"It's so beautiful. Is it your family?"

"Yes."

I heard his footsteps coming towards me and became aware of him standing very close at my side. I could barely breathe.

"Those are my parents, Carlisle and Esme." He said, pointing to the movie star doctor and the woman at his side.

"Your parents?" I looked up at him, the lack of air in my lungs making my words hard to understand. "But they look so-"

"Young? They are."

"And these are their children? Your brothers and sisters?" I motioned to the other people pictured.

"Yes." He leaned in and pointed to the second couple. "Those are Emmett and Rosalie."

"And what about them?" I pointed to the next couple.

"Jasper and Alice." He stood straight and turned to me. "We were all adopted by Carlisle and Esme."

"Adopted?" I turned to him with a quizzical look on my face. "That's strange."

"Why?"

"Well…you all just look so similar." I turned back to the picture. "All of you are inhumanely beautiful. And all of you have topaz colored eyes. And all of you have smooth, pale skin…like marble."

"You certainly are observant." Edward said, cocking his head to one side.

"I thought it was obvious."

"I can't tell you how many people never make that observation. There are friends of the family that have never noticed that."

"Edward," I slowly turned to look up at him, "what happened earlier with the taxi? And how did we get to wherever we are so…so-"

"So what?" He leaned down to my level slightly.

"Impossibly fast." I whispered, partially because of how close he was.

Edward was suddenly snapping back up to attention and walking away from me very slowly. I thought that he was going to leave the room, but he turned, and paced back and forth.

"I couldn't…let it happen." He managed to say through clenched teeth.

"Let…what happen Edward?" I asked breathlessly, not daring to make any movement.

"Bella…you have to understand something right now." Edward stopped pacing, but kept his back to me. "If you really want to know…about me…then there's no going back."

I didn't even have to ask him what that meant. The thought never crossed my mind as I closed the distance between us at an extremely slow pace and reached for his cold hand.

"All I want is…to know about you."

By the way he clenched his jaw tighter, I could tell that my answer didn't make him happy. But he also wrapped his hand around mine.

"Come with me. We have a lot to talk about."


End file.
